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150 Organizations Condemn Trump's Call for Drugs Death Penalty, While Reformers Rally

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 26, 2018

CONTACT: David Borden, Executive Director, StoptheDrugWar.org, borden@drcnet.org

More Than 150 Organizations Condemn President Trump's Call to Execute People for Nonviolent Drug Offenses

UN to Release Annual "World Drug Report" While Reformers Rally Worldwide

Groups Accuse Singapore of Using False Drug Use Data to Justify Death Penalty

[image:1 align:left caption:true]A growing coalition with over 150 organizations as of this writing (140 when release was first done) has condemned President Trump's call to institute the death penalty for drug offenses. A copy of the statement, which was organized by the US-based NGO StoptheDrugWar.org, is online here.

The statement was submitted to the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, to be considered for inclusion in a report on the death penalty being presented to the General Assembly next fall. David Borden, executive director of StoptheDrugWar.organd the statement's author, explained, "We decided to release the statement at this time because of the immigrant family separations and the US's withdrawal from the Human Rights Council, as another example of President Trump's assault on human rights."

The statement also coincides with the June 26 release of the annual UN World Drug Report, and with the annual Support Don't PunishGlobal Day of Action for health- and human rights-based approaches to drug policy.

Among the statement's signatories are the National Organization for Women (NOW), the Latino Commission on AIDS, the William C. Velasquez Institute, Death Penalty Focus, the National Association of Social Workers, and Housing Works.

The US has never brought a death penalty case for a drug offense, but following the president's call for executions last spring, Attorney General Sessions sent a memo to prosecutors urging them to consider seeking the death penalty in some cases.

The statement argues, with references, that the president's claims of success for drug death penalty approaches in other countries is "premised on falsehoods." It notes that the world's leading executors for drug offenses, China and Iran, have scaled back their use of executions for drug offenses; and accuses Singapore's government of using "faked data" to justify their drugs death penalty.

The statement also makes note of President Trump's suggestion that police officers should bash suspects' heads on car door frames when arresting them, made during a police officers' convention in July 2017; and his repeated calls for violence against protesters at his rallies during the presidential campaign, recorded on video on seven different occasions.

The statement also notes Trump's praise for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal campaign of extrajudicial drug war killings, which Duterte administration figures suggest has claimed 20,000 lives to date. The statement has strong representation in the Philippines as well as the Filipino American community, with more than ten endorsing organizations including the iDEFEND human rights coalition, the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service Foundation, and the Filipino American Human Rights Alliance (FAHRA).

The statement calls on Congress to repeal the US's never-used drugs death penalty statutes; to enact bipartisan sentencing reform legislation that is pending in Congress; and to pass legislation sponsored by Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) to impose human rights conditions on some aid to the Philippines while funding public health work and human rights advocacy.

Borden said, "We are committed to recognizing if and when the Trump administration takes good steps in drug policy or criminal justice. Recently the president released Alice Johnson, a 63-year old grandmother who had been imprisoned since 1996 on a drug offense, and he suggested there could be many more pardons. He has offered tentative support for legislation to give formal federal permission to states enacting marijuana legalization, though Republican leadership has blocked the bill from moving. We hope the president follows through on both these promises. In the meanwhile, however, the overall Trump administration record in the drug war is a horrific one."

The full text of the statement and signatory list is online at: https://stopthedrugwar.org/files/trump-death-penalty.pdf.

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New Federal Bill Would Protect States' Experiments with Legal Marijuana [FEATURE]

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A bipartisan group of legislators introduced a bill Thursday in both houses of Congress that would protect state marijuana legalization, medical marijuana, and decriminalization laws from federal interference. Under the measure, the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act (STATES Act), the Controlled Substances Act's (CSA) provisions federally criminalizing marijuana would no longer apply to anyone acting in compliance with state, territorial, or tribal laws allowing marijuana activities.

[image:1 align:left]The bill would also clarify that marijuana business transactions done in compliance with state laws are not drug trafficking and that money made in state-legal marijuana operations is not the proceeds of an unlawful transaction. This provision would provide breathing room for financial institutions to provide services to the industry and give state-legal pot businesses the ability to claim standard business deductions at tax time.

The bill additionally removes industrial hemp from the list of controlled substances under the CSA.

It also retains criminal provisions of the CSA that bar the endangerment of life while manufacturing marijuana and the employment of people under 18 in drug operations. And it prohibits the distribution of marijuana at transportation safety facilities, such as truck stops and rest areas.

The bill is a direct response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions' avowedly aggressive approach to marijuana. The Obama administration dealt with state-legal marijuana by largely getting out of the way, but under Sessions, the Justice Department has rescinded Obama-era guidance to federal prosecutors that limited law enforcement efforts. A feared crackdown has not materialized, but the Justice Department's posture has created legal and business uncertainty, threatened public health and safety, and undermined state regulatory regimes.

While the bill is unlikely to pass this session, it allows its sponsors to stake out positions at the cutting edge of marijuana reform. Senate sponsor Cory Gardner (R-CO) is a Republican seeking to defend his seat this year in a state that legalized marijuana who has sparred with the Justice Department over the issue, while Senate sponsor Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), representing a state where legal marijuana sales are set to begin this summer, is considered a leading Democratic presidential contender.

"In 2012, Coloradans legalized marijuana at the ballot box and the state created an apparatus to regulate the legal marijuana industry. But because of the one-size-fits-all federal prohibition, state decisions like this put Colorado and other states at odds with the federal government," said Gardner. "The federal government is closing its eyes and plugging its ears while 46 states have acted. The bipartisan STATES Act fixes this problem once and for all by taking a states' rights approach to the legal marijuana question. The bipartisan, commonsense bill ensures the federal government will respect the will of the voters - whether that is legalization or prohibition - and not interfere in any states' legal marijuana industry."

"Outdated federal marijuana laws have perpetuated our broken criminal justice system, created barriers to research, and hindered economic development," said Warren. "States like Massachusetts have put a lot of work into implementing common-sense marijuana regulations - and they have the right to enforce their own marijuana policies. The federal government needs to get out of the business of outlawing marijuana."

House sponsor Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) doesn't need to burnish his marijuana reform credentials -- he is a co-founder of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus -- while House sponsor David Joyce (R-OH) is defending his seat in battleground Ohio, where medical marijuana sales are slated to begin this fall.

"For too long the senseless prohibition of marijuana has devastated communities, disproportionately impacting poor Americans and communities of color. Not to mention, it's also wasted resources and stifled critical medical research," said Blumenauer. "It's past time to put the power back in the hands of the people. Congress must right this wrong."

"We should trust the people of the states, like Ohio, who have voted to implement responsible common-sense regulations and requirements for the use, production, and sale of cannabis," said Joyce. "If the people of these states have decided to provide help for those veterans and others suffering from pain and other health issues, we should allow them access without government interference."

The legislation is backed not only by the usual suspects, such as the ACLU, Drug Policy Alliance, Marijuana Policy Project, National Cannabis Industry Association, and NORML, but also by the National Conference of State Legislatures. Also supporting the bipartisan effort are conservative groups, such as Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, and the Institute for Liberty, as well as banking groups including the Cooperative Credit Union Association, the Massachusetts Bankers Association, the Maine Credit Union League, and the Mountain West Credit Union Association.

Other marijuana reform bills have been introduced in this Congress, too, but like this one, they are likely doomed by Republican recalcitrance. Still, if the Democrats manage to take control of the House and/or the Senate in November, we could start to see some real progress made. Support for marijuana legalization has gone past the tipping point; now it's just inertia and intransigence blocking progress.

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You'll Never Believe What Country Just Enacted a Massive, Meaningful Drug Reform

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For years, Iran has been one of the world's leading executioners of drug offenders, with hundreds of people hung from the gallows annually for drug smuggling and trafficking. But in a remarkable turnabout, that is no longer the case.

[image:1 align:left caption:true]After the Iranian parliament amended the country's drug laws in November 2017, drug executions have all but halted, according to a new report from Iran Human Rights (IHR). The non-profit group found that only one person had been executed for a drug offense this year in Iran, compared to 112 during the same period last year and nearly 500 for all of 2017.

That's a 99% reduction in the resort to the death penalty for drugs in the Islamic Republic.

The changes to Iran's drug laws didn't remove the death penalty from the books—it remains one of 33 countries, including the United States, that mete out the ultimate punishment for drug offenses—but it dramatically raised the quantities of drugs needed to merit the death penalty.

Under the old law, being caught with a little more than an ounce (30 grams) of drugs such as cocaine or heroin could bring a death sentence. Now, it takes nearly 4 ½ pounds (2 kilograms). Similarly, for plant-based drugs such as cannabis and opium, the death penalty threshold has increased ten-fold, from 5 kilograms (11 pounds) to 50 kilograms (110 pounds).

The death penalty can also be imposed for certain other drug offenses where quantity is not the issue, for example, the use of a minor in a drug trafficking operations, carrying or using firearms while committing drug-related crimes, having a prior death penalty or prison sentence longer than 15 years, or being the "leader" of a drug trafficking group.

The one man executed for drug offenses in Iran this year, identified as Kiomars Nosuhi, was convicted of being a "leader" of a drug trafficking group.

Bordering Afghanistan, the world's primary supplier of raw opium and heroin, Iran has for decades waged war on drug smugglers, with thousands of police and soldiers killed in the struggle. While opium smoking was a traditional Iranian pastime, the country now has one of the world's highest addiction rates, with heroin largely replacing opium. In recognition of that reality, in the past decade, Iranian officials have switched from harsh punishments of drug users to emphasizing drug treatment and harm reduction. The end of the reflexive resort to the death penalty for drugs marks another step in the country's march toward a more progressive policy response.

While human rights groups applaud the dramatic decline in drug executions, they continue to express concern over the way the Iranian judicial system responds to drugs.

"We welcome the significant reduction in the use of the death penalty and hope that this trend will continue towards complete abolition," said IHR spokesperson Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam. "However, we have several serious concerns regarding the process of implementation of the new amendment, including bribery in the judicial system, insufficient capacity to handle a large number of cases, and lack of a monitoring organ overlooking the process."

And then there are the tens of thousands of drug offenders filling Iran's prisons. The country has more than 250,000 people behind bars, 50% to 70% for drug offenses. The Islamic Republic may not be running the gallows at full tilt anymore for drugs, but incarceration remains a key element of Iranian drug policy. Still, Iran has taken an important step forward. 

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